THE university of Namibia (Unam)’s newly appointed pro-vice chancellor for reaserch, innovation and development Anicia Peters says she aims to establish commercialisation centres across the country.
Associate professor Peters, who was appointed earlier this week as pro-vice chancellor for research,innovation and development, told The Namibian in a telephone interview that she is delighted to take up the position.
“I am blessed to take up this position and leverage the strength of the large Unam community to become the disruptors for research, innovation and commercialisation in Namibia and beyond.
“I believe that Namibians have great potential to make, create and innovate,” Peters said.
She added that her goal is to enhance and increase research, innovation and commercialisation activities at Unam and establish commercialisation centres across the country.
Peters, who was one of Namibia’s University of Science and Technology (Nust) top professors, was poached in her new position by Unam.
Unam’s acting director of communication and marketing, John Haufiku, confirmed the appointment to The Namibian earlier this week.
“We are excited to announce the appointment of associate professor Anicia Peters into a key position at the University of Namibia,”Haufiku said in a telephone interview.
In February this year, Peters was up against three other candidates through public presentations as to why they think they deserved the top academic job.
The three other candidates were professor Moses Chimbari from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, professor Nelago Indongo and professor Alex Kanyimba who are all Unam staff members.
Peters replaces professor Frank Kavishe who was acting in the position. Kavishe is the assistant pro-vice chancellor at Unam’s José Euardo dos Santos campus in Ongwediva.
The position became vacant after professor Kenneth Matengu ascended to vice chancellorship in 2018.
Born in Rehoboth, Peters holds a PhD in juman-computer-interaction and a master of science in the field from Iowa State University in the United States.
She also has a degree in information Technology (cum laude) and a national diploma in business computing (cum laude) from Nust.
Peters has been working at Nust for 12 years and has been the dean of Faculty of Computing and Informatics and an associate professor of computer science for the last six years.
She is currently the vice-chair at the Namibia Qualification Authority (NQA) and a council member of the Namibia Council for Higher Education.
Peters is expected to occupy her new job on 1 June 2020.
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